How do we view the police?
In the past couple of years, police brutality has been a
serious topic in the news and
social media. This has given us a bad view of police, espe
cially due to the deaths of Michael
Brown and Freddie Gray. Police are, for the most part,
good at their jobs and great people. They
help kids fix their bikes and mother ducks rescue their duckl
ings; they orchestrate major drug
busts and go on undercover operations. Policemen live
a dangerous life and do much more
than most people can say they have done to protect peop
le. They risk their lives every day to
make sure all citizens are safe. Did you know that Shaqu
ille O'Neal is currently a reserve police
officer for the Los Angeles Port Police Department and
has also been named an honorary
Deputy U.S. Marshal? Not all police are as stern and st
iff as we often see them online; many
have friendly faces and are great to talk to.
Law enforcement does other tasks to help the community
besides fight crime. Many
police officers take on C.I.T. training to understand pro
perly how to deal with people with mental
illness and developmental disabilities to ensure that t
hey keep everyone involved safe. It is very
difficult to deal with someone with a mental illness,
while keeping them and surrounding people
safe if they are acting violent or dangerously. Under
cover police take on one of the more
dangerous tasks that an officer can have. Take JoaquÃn "Ja
ck" GarcÃa for example: he was an
officer that went undercover more than one-hundred ti
mes and busted many criminals along the
way. He is probably most well-known for his role as "Jack Fal
cone" where he took on the
undercover persona of a drug dealer and jewel thief t
o bust the Gambino crime family in Miami,
Florida. There are multiple stories about police doi
ng good tasks, some as simple as fixing
bikes, others as complicated as going undercover on a stin
g operation to bust a drug ring.
Police do more good than media lets us see. It is our j
ob to see them for who they really are:
good people.